My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.

Criminals are never very amusing. It's because they're failures. Those who make real money aren't counted as criminals. This is a class distinction, not an ethical problem.

I prefer the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.

Almost all serious stories in the world are stories of failure with a death in it. But there is more lost paradise in them than defeat.

Future shock is a sickness which comes from too much change in too short a time. It's the feeling that nothing is permanent anymore.

I worry a lot about taking care of my dependents, all those perfectly ordinary middle-class preoccupations.

There are three intolerable things in life - cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women.